A U.S. federal appeals court on Monday upheld a jury verdict ordering former President Donald Trump to pay $83.3 million in damages to writer E. Jean Carroll for defamation.
In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed Trump’s bid to overturn the award, ruling that his arguments were without merit. The court rejected claims that the damages were excessive and that a recent Supreme Court ruling expanding presidential immunity should apply.
The panel stated that Trump had “failed to identify any grounds that would warrant reconsidering our prior holding on presidential immunity,” adding that the trial court made no errors and that the jury’s award was “fair and reasonable.”
The ruling marks another legal blow for Trump, who has repeatedly denied Carroll’s allegation that he raped her in the mid-1990s in a Manhattan department store. Carroll filed defamation lawsuits after Trump publicly attacked her credibility while denying the claim.
The decision comes shortly after Trump’s lawyers indicated plans to seek Supreme Court review of a separate jury verdict awarding Carroll $5 million. Both cases stem from Trump’s remarks discrediting Carroll, which courts have found to be defamatory.
The White House has not commented on the ruling.
